It’s always hard to write a Thanksgiving themed historical article. First, Thanksgiving didn’t become a national holiday until 1863 when Abraham Lincoln made it one and second, days of thanksgiving in the early colonies were most often spent in church, praying and asking God for something, like the end of a drought or thanking him for rain or some other positive event.
The Pilgrims’ feast that is the inspiration for our Thanksgiving was a celebration of finally having a good harvest in their new world. Harvest celebrations were common and most often happened at the end of the growing season in early fall. When they did this, they may not have known that it had long been a yearly ritual for the area Native Americans.
Prior to the arrival of the Europeans, the Wampanoags who inhabited our area were farmers, hunters and gatherers. In the spring, they would move to fields near the coast that they cultivated, growing maize, beans, squash, pumpkins, cucumbers, Jerusalem artichokes and tobacco. Planting them all together in one field had the effect of improving the soil. The corn and beans were planted in the same mounds. This created high yields of crops with harvests of 25-60 bushels on only one or two acres.
Their proximity near the ocean meant they had a plentiful supply of fish and shellfish. In the last days of summer at the end of the growing season, they would have a celebration with food and games, before preparing to move inland for the winter months. Inland areas were more protected from the weather, closer to prey and near their storage pits.
Their last act before moving on was to set fire to their fields and living areas. There were several reasons for this from assuring open fields for farming to keeping pathways from being overgrown. A side effect of the burn was the positive effect that the fire residue had on the soil, enriching it for the next growing cycle.
Unfortunately, the arrival of settlers to Plymouth and surrounding towns disrupted the centuries old way of life of the Native Americans. Unlike the Wampanoags, the English newcomers believed in owning the land and setting up boundary lines and fences which left the original inhabitants who had roamed freely, little to be thankful for.
An FYI to anyone interested in our search for Rochester’s Revolutionary veterans is that our how-to packet for the research is now available on the town’s website under the Rochester Historical Commission section. There are also packets at the Plumb Library and the COA.
As an aside, reading over the report of my talk in Mattapoisett on Veteran’s Day, it highlighted some of the difficulties in doing the research. Over generations, families reused names and often used what I think of as variations of the same name for multiple children. IN Rochester there was a Nathaniel Haskell, a Nathan Haskell and an Elnathan Haskell and two of them were brothers. It was actually Elnathan who was an aide to Washington and in the painting in the Capitol. Also, Rochester’s first birthday celebration was the 200th. Everyone was too busy with the Revolution to celebrate 100 yrs.
Happy Thanksgiving.
By Connie Eshbach